This invention relates to a control device for a brake and a derailleur for a bicycle, which device is mounted to a handle bar in the vicinity of a grip thereof.
Generally, a control device for the brake is mounted to the handle bar in the vicinity of the grip thereof, and a control device for the derailleur is usually mounted to the bicycle frame, such as a top tube, or the handle bar. The brake control device is controllable by a driver while he is gripping by hand the handle grip, but the derailleur control device is difficult to operate when the deriver is gripping the handle grip. In other words, the derailleur control device, when mounted near the handle grip, is mounted at the opposite side of the handle bar with respect to the brake control which is also mounted near the handle grip. Hence, the driver, when operating the derailleur control with the hand that grips the handle grip, should raise his thumb or forefinger above the handle grip, whereby his palm leaves, at the base of the thumb or forefinger, the handle grip, resulting a loss of grip. In other words, it is difficult to operate the derailleur while gripping the handle grip.
A control device has hitherto been proposed which assembles the brake control device and derailleur control device into one fixing member, namely, a brake lever and a control lever for the derailleur are assembled into one fixing member. The control lever for the derailleur, however, is disposed laterally of the fixing member and pivoted to a pivot extending in the same direction as a pivot for the brake lever. Hence, the driver, as in the previous conventional example, cannot control the control lever when he is positively gripping the handle bar. As a result, the aforesaid problem remains.
In order to overcome the aforesaid problem, the present invention has been designed. An object of the invention is to provide a control device through which the driver can operate the brake lever and control lever as he is gripping the handle bar, in other words, keeping nearly the whole surface of his palm in contact with the handle grip, so that he can operate the control lever not by raising but by merely stretching his thumb or forefinger.
In detail, the control device of the invention is so constructed that a brake lever having a grip is swingably supported through a first pivot to one fixing member fixed to the handle bar, a control lever having at least one control portion for operating the derailleur is supported swingably through a second pivot disposed substantially perpendicularly with respect to the first pivot, and the control portion of the control lever is positioned between the handle bar and the grip of the brake lever and is made swingable in the direction at right angles with the swinging direction of the brake lever, whereby a driver can operate the control lever to actuate the derailleur while keeping his grip on the handle grip.
This invention is characterized in that the control lever is incorporated with the fixing member so that the control portion of the control lever may be positioned between the grip of the brake lever and the handle bar. Accordingly, by use of the control device of the invention, whose fixing member is fixed to the handle bar in the vicinity of the grip thereof, the driver can operate the control lever merely by stretching his thumb or forefinger in a posture of gripping the handle grip. Hence, even when operating the control lever, the driver can retain a firm grip to thereby safely perform the speed change while steering the bicycle through the handle.
Moreover, the control device of the invention, which incorporates the brake lever and control lever with the one fixing member, fixes the fixing member only to the handle bar to keep both the levers in the most suitable position with respect to the handle grip, for always safely and reliably operating the brake and derailleur.
These and other objects and novel features of the invention will be more apparent from the following description in accordance with the accompanying drawings.